[zlatan_ish]

Ill take Azpi over any of United fullbacks. Such an underrated player.

 

[stu_1992]

Was too sour to post on here yesterday, but what a load of shite that was. Just some really poor defending for every goal. Unforgivable stuff really. I think you have to question the mentality too, because that early goal clearly killed them. Never recovered mentally from the disappointment of that.

 

[Will Singh]

Hopefully this is Mourinho's LVG vs Leicester moment and we turn a new leaf, i.e. Park the bus and play boring football...joke

 

[EyeInTheSky]

Was too sour to post on here yesterday, but what a load of shite that was. Just some really poor defending for every goal. Unforgivable stuff really. I think you have to question the mentality too, because that early goal clearly killed them. Never recovered mentally from the disappointment of that.

You were right to be sour or at least it is understandable that you were like the rest of us. You would not be normal if you were not fecked off after a match like that where it seemed everything happened to kill us off. It comes with being a fan, its silly really when you take a step back with some perspective. I agree about the defending, the first 2 goals where 1 was an absolute blunder within 30 seconds and the other was a deflected cross (Corner?) which just killed us. They had better show some sort of character in the next game or there will be more woe...

 

[Highlyevolved]

3rd game in a span of a week, away and a freak goal to start the game allowed Chelsea - 7 days fresh - to capitalize and dominate the game. Only issue I have with this is I expected the players to crack down and not bottle it.

It's okay, 6 points off the top. As long as the lads have the balls to mentally come back from this then we'll be fine, we have the quality. Besides, this same Chelsea side got trashed 3-0 by arsenal a couple weeks ago Shit happens.

Great post, I think the 3 games in a week has been forgotten by a lot of the fans and the media. It's a huge factor.

 

[RedStarUnited]

We are over analyzing this game.

We defended so badly we would lose to anyone playing like that. If we defended half as well as we did Vs Liverpool the outcome would have been better.

 

[RedStarUnited]

I keep hearing the Real Madrid argument paraded around, but did anyone notice that they're still on a high echelon and we're not? You know, because they have some standards?

I'm getting fed up with hearing about we're not like A fans or B fans. The standards at this club have been sinking rapidly and now there are people applauding a 0-0 at Anfield, which was the absolute minimal result we should get there. It's really sad.

Tbh Madrid went from 2007 to 2012 without a title and didnt do anything in the CL either.

 

[TheReligion]

I've watched the game again and our defending was terrible. The early goal seemed to panic everyone and certainly spoilt the game plan. It was a very strange considering how well the team performed whilst defending against Liverpool and now the injury to Bailly will further disrupt our back line.

Possession wise we did control matters and if you looked at the statistics, bar the score, you'd have said United had the best from the game.

Chelsea's strength is counter attacking and by getting ourselves on the backfoot after 30 seconds we played right into their hands.

That said though Zlatan should have hit the target with his head on 7 minutes and we had plenty of chances to get back on terms before the break.

I don't think it's all doom and gloom. Just a really bad day at the office. Roll on Wednesday.

 

[Jay Pascal]

Uncontrolable things

• 3rd Game in a week
• an away game at our worst away ground
• a freak goal after 30 seconds
• Deflected cross for the 2nd goal
  
• David Louise not being sent of for that horrendous challenge on Fellaini

Things that Jose needs to change and is in his hands.

• Smalling is a disaster waiting to happen (actually he is a disaster that has already happened on multiple occasions)
• Rojo is a sack of shite
• Like I said before Having Smalling and Rojo in your back for is tantamount to match fixing.
• Fellaini looked ok against relegation fodder but gets overrun against any team with a midfield that has a smidgen of intelligence they just play around him.
• Rashford needs to play just ahead of Ibra to take advantage of hold up and link play
• The lack of effort and standing off by too many players

Things to look forward to:

• Mkhitaryan getting minutes (Bundesliga player of the year will literately be like a new signing)
• Pogba playing with a better Midfield counter balance (carrick, Blind or another signing in January)
• beating City in the ELC
• Mata is consistently on form

Jose has only had 9 games with a surplus of players (many average or not good enough) and a terrible pre-season to fit them all in and give them a run of games for fitness and also trying to get results at the same time.

Things will normalise between 10-15 games (as I have said before). Then we will know what kind of season we can expect.

This! Good analysis

 

[David Court]

I thought Smalling was developing into a top class central defender but am perplexed at what's happened to him since the Euros?

He seems to have lost confidence and has anyone ever introduced him to Blind? They look like they've never met.

 

[BonkersIam]

Part of some of the work I do, is helping match day reporters with bits and pieces so therefore get to quite a few matches of different clubs. In UK we cover mainly the London clubs and more often than not those in and around West London...i.e. Brentford, Qpr, Fulham and Chelsea.
I am not sure if this has been mentioned already but apart from it being a 'big' match anyway regardless of the Mourinho factor, there was also a rememberence and celebration going on marking 20 years since Chelsea director and fan Matthew Harding tragically died in a helicopter crash returning from a match at Bolton.
I would like to say how great and understanding the Manchester United away supporters were at half-time when the Harding family were walking around the pitch being introduced to the Chelsea crowd.
I know from talking to Chelsea supporters after the game, that they really appreciated the behaviour of the United support when certain other clubs wouldnt have been quite so complimentary.

 

[ravelston]

I've waited a couple of days - it hasn't really helped. I was going to say that "that was the worst United display since" - but then I realised that I didn't have a "since". So that takes us back to the 56-57 season. Perhaps I'm over-reacting - can anyone remember a worse performance? And I'm not only talking about the football that we played, but also the attitude and the general sense of hopelessness that the players displayed. When we've played badly in the past - some of those games in the early 70's for example - you at least got the feeling that the players cared and wanted to do better. Not on Sunday.

How can a team be so totally bereft of anything resembling a tactical plan? Our disintegration over the last few weeks has been reminiscent of Chelsea's at the same stage last season. At this point I'd welcome van Gaal back with open arms - his plan may have been bad but, bad luck and injuries aside, it would probably have got us into the top four. Currently we look like a relegation team - and we're getting worse with each successive match.

I never want to see Blind in a United shirt again. Not because he was the worst on Sunday - although it has to have been close between him and Smalling - but because he represents a preparedness to accept second best that is slowly strangling the team. I admire that he works hard to the best of his ability and that he's got an excellent footballing brain, but the hard work and intelligence can't disguise that he is a very limited footballer. If we aspire to be better, he has no place in the team. I look at the rest of the squad and for all of them I can say "he can play better" - there's an upside, some unrealised talent. Unfortunately, with Blind, he's already used all the talent that he's got - indeed he's massively overachieved considering his very substantial physical limitations.

What can we do? How do you refocus a set of players who seem totally lost? Who do you send out for the next match? I don't have a good answers for any of those questions. I know what I'd try - I'd try to set up somewhat like Juve - see if that helps Pogba get back some of the form he showed last season (and in his first match for us). That would mean going back to the hated "three at the back" and, with Jones and Bailly out and my self-imposed ban on Blind, that means giving Tuanzebe a chance alongside Smalling and Rojo. I would play Shaw at wing-back (if Mourinho hasn't totally destroyed his confidence) and probably Darmian (or Valencia) on the other side. Pogba and Carrick in midfield with either Mata or Mkhitaryan, and two from Rashford, Martial, Rooney and Ibrahimovic up front. I would seriously think about giving Fosu-Mensah some time in midfield - subbing him in for Carrick when it seems appropriate. Ok - I know this isn't going to happen, but thinking about it helped me get out of a seriously black mood. We do have the talent to make up a pretty good team - surely we'll get there - I'm just not sure that Mourinho is capable of getting the players back onto the same page - or even that he has a page to get them back onto.

 

[legball]

Only Bailly & Pogba would get into our team actually.

No, apart from Azpi, your whole backline is a shower of shit, De Gea is comfortably better than your GK, Martial & Mhkitaryan are better than that shit Pedro or Moses, Luke Shaw is better than anyone you have at leftback, but of course you won, so you earned the right to say whatever pleases you.